The Love of Parents
by Aliza Hope
Summary: After her death, Lily Potter makes a deal with Death. In return for raising her son, Lily intends to send the soul of Voldemort to Death. She does end up raising Harry but not in the way that she imagined. With her husband by her side will she be able to help Harry complete his destiny? kinda AU! Manipulative!Dumbledore Smart!Independent!Lord!Harry James/Lily Harry/Ginny(later) OOC


Lily's Deal

October 31, 1981; 9:05 P.M.

Godric's Hollow is a little village in the west country of England. It is a small community, which centers on a village square with only a church, a post office, a pub, and a few retail shops. The residential streets are lined with cute, quaint cottages.

Many people believe that Godric's Hollow is a normal village. They would be wrong. Godric Gryffindor was born there; that's why it is called Godric's Hollow. Ignotus Peverall, the youngest Peverall brother, died there, as did Bathilda Bagshot, the writer of _A History of Magic_. Also, Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of all time and the defeater of Grindalwald, lived there. And, right now, history was, once again, about to be made at Godric's Hollow.

It had started out like any Halloween evening. Children, of all ages, walked about in their costumes, dragging their parents to house after house. And in one house on Church Street one wizard made puffs of coloured smoke erupt from his wand for the amusement of his one year old son. The small boy was laughing and trying to grab the smoke in his small fist.

A door opened and a witch came into the room. "James, it's time for Harry to go to bed," she said. James scooped up his son and handed him to the witch. He threw his wand down upon the sofa and stretched, yawning widely.

It was at that point that the door of their little cottage burst open. James went sprinting into the hall, forgetting his wand on the sofa. When he saw who was at the door, James yelled, "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Peter betrayed us! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

The man in the doorway thought it was too easy. Hold him off without a wand in his hand? He laughed before he casted the curse. "Evada kedavra!"

Bright green light filled the hallway. James fell like a broken marionette. He gave a small victory smirk before he headed farther into the house to kill the boy. He strode with purpose up the stairs. With a flick of his wand, he knocked aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against the door. Lily saw the man and dropped her son into his crib then stood in front of him, throwing her arms wide, as if it would help.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Lily cried.

"Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside, now."

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-"

"This is my last warning-," the evil wizard snarled.

"Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy…not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything-" Lily cried in a last ditch effort to save her only son.

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!" the wizard growled. He could have forced her away from the crib and away from his downfall, but it seemed more prudent to finish them all. The bright green light flashed around the room and she dropped as quickly as her husband had.

Lily opened her eyes, surprised to find herself alive. She smiled softly and forced herself up. Her smile faded when she saw where she was. She bowed her head, sadly.

"Why so sad, dear Lily?" It was a female that spoke.

"I'm dead," Lily frowned. She was dead; she couldn't raise her baby boy.

"Yes, you are dead, Lily, but you can talk to Death and make a deal," the lady said.

"What kind of deal?" Lily asked.

"Any kind, just as long as it's reasonable."

"Where can I find Death?" Lily asked.

"You don't find Death. Death finds you," the lady said then disappeared.

"Well, how long is that going to take?" Lily whined.

"Not long," a cocky voice said. Lily jumped and squeaked, turning to where the voice had come from.

"Are-Are you Death?" Lily asked. A man stepped out of the shadows, a hood hiding his face.

"Yes, I'm Death," he grinned. "Would you like to make a deal?"

"Yes, but I'd feel more comfortable if I could see your face," Lily said.

"Well, I live to serve," Death said, sarcasm oozing from his voice. He reached up and pulled his hood off. Lily yelped and took half a step back. Death wasn't exactly frightening. Death was more surprising then he was frightening. And, Death was not a man.

Actually, Death wasn't a man or a woman; Death was both. Death's features would shift every few seconds, as would its voice. That's why Death kept its hood up; it didn't want to freak anybody out.

"You asked me to take me hood off," Death said, its voice now that of a woman, the woman who had spoken to Lily before Death had shown itself.

"True, I did, you just surprised me," Lily said.

"Right, did you want to make a deal or not?" Death asked, a man again.

"Yes, I do," Lily said. Death gestured for her to continue speaking. "I want to raise my son," Lily added.

"If I send you back and you raise your son, what do I get in return?" Death inquired.

"The soul of Voldemort," Lily growled, after a moment of thought. Death's face contorted into a look of pleasure.

"Let me get this straight, if I send you-"

"And my husband," Lily interrupted.

"-and your husband back then you will send me the soul of Voldemort?" Death finished.

"Yes, although, it might take a while to send you his soul," Lily said.

"I accept and I warn you, my ways are more than a little strange," Death said, now grinning.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"I mean, you will find yourself raising your son but it might not be in the way you expect," Death said, snapping its fingers. James appeared beside Lily. "hold on tight and good luck, you're gonna need it," Death finished, snapping its fingers again.

Lily grabbed James' hand and held on tight. The inky blackness that had surrounded them began to spin. It took several minutes for the spinning to stop but when it did, Lily and James looked around.

They were inside, that they could tell. Where they were, they had no idea. The walls, floor, and ceiling were a mixture of emerald green and burgundy red with a little bit of golden yellow. Lily bent down and pointed at to the red colouring.

"This is the same colour as my occlumency walls," she observed. James pointed to a patch of green on the walls.

"And this is the same colour as my occlumency walls," James said. "They remind me of your eyes," he added. Lily blushed the same colour as her hair. James shot her a cocky grin.

"Should we take down our occlumency walls and see if anything happens?" Lily suggested. James nodded and took down his mind shields. The green disappeared from the walls, floor, and ceiling and the red took its place. Lily took down her walls and the red disappeared. "Well, that's strange," Lily muttered.

"AAAHHH!"

The loud scream scared Lily and James and made the feeble yellow occlumency walls crash down. And, then, Lily figured it out. Her mouth dropped open and she turned to James. "We're in Harry's mind. I told Death I wanted to raise Harry, but I didn't specify how I wanted to raise him. James, we're raising Harry mentally and emotionally, but not physically," Lily explained. James' mouth dropped open.

"Woah."

"Well, Death certainly wasn't lying. His ways are very strange," Lily muttered.

LP-LP-LP-LP-LP

Petunia Dursley was the older sister of Lily Potter. She was a muggle, she hatted magic, and she was the one raising Lily's son. It didn't take long for Petunia to make Lily very, very angry. It really only took one minute.

It was a couple days after Halloween. Dudley, Petunia's son, was playing with a toy and he dropped it, which, being the spoiled brat that he is, caused him to cry. Petunia rushed to comfort him.

Harry, who had never really liked toys, has stood and began to walk. Lily and James were sending him feelings of encouragement, pride, and love. Dudley was jealous; he couldn't stand on his own, let alone walk, so he stuck a foot right in front of Harry's path. Harry didn't notice and tripped over Dudley's foot. He hurt his hurt his ankle and hit his head when he fell, so he cried. Petunia ignored him completely. Lily and James had to send feelings of love and comfort to quiet Harry and then sent some magic to Harry's ankle to make the pain go away.

There were several more instances while Harry grew up. Each time, Lily and James had to send emotions that would counteract any emotions that Petunia would cause.

While Harry grew physically, Lily and James worked in Harry's mind to create a nice home for them. Lily was the one to figure out that they could create anything in Harry's mind. It didn't take long for Lily and James to make their little cottage from Godric's Hollow – with a quidditch pitch in the back and an extended library attached to the master bedroom – in Harry's mind.

Harry was first able to enter his mindscape when he was seven. It took a lot of coaxing from Lily and James to get him to leave the next morning. That was also the day Harry's training started.

As the last living Potter, Harry was to become the next Lord Potter on his eleventh birthday, which was only four years away. Harry was being trained everyday for at least and hour and on the days that he was stuck in the cupboard under the stairs, his room, he was being trained all day.

Harry had his first bout of accidental magic when he was five. He had just started primary school and the teacher had made him angry. He hadn't meant to but he caused her wig to turn blue. Lily was the one who had to reverse the magic as James knew his limitations and was rolling on the floor, dying with laughter.

The next notable time was about a month after he first entered his mindscape. Dudley and his gang had been chasing him. Harry, who had meant to jump behind some wastebaskets, apperated to the roof. Lily and James had to direct him through the apparition to get down to the ground. Both times, Harry, who hadn't been caught, went unpunished.

Finally, it was the summer of Harry's eleventh birthday. Harry waited anxiously for his letter, for his ticket back to the wizarding world. Finally, on the twenty-third of July, it came and Harry put the plan that he and his parents had been working on for weeks, into action.


End file.
